MeHeleNoLiloLover: Star Trek is a major plot in this story. Apart from the fact that Lilo's mum (and presumably Lilo herself) was a huge ST fan, the theme is an important part, especially later on.
The Chase (Part Two)
"Juubaka,
chi nadja shi Jumba kanoka. Ka 32-92-8," Stitch commanded the
computer.
"What
did you say?" came Lilo's voice.
"Car
on autopilot."
"Oh."
He
took out his plasma blaster, and pointed it to the sky.
Just
got to keep it steady, and…
"Woah!"
A
branch flew out of nowhere, and he fell back into his seat… the
plasma blaster went off, and hit the left wing engine of Gantu's
craft.
Not
exactly what I was aiming at…
"Argh!
That trog blew out the navigational relay and the main engine!"
"Warning:
Navigational relay offline. Main engine has been incapacitated,"
droned the computer needlessly.
"Why…
won't… you… hold… still!"
Lilo
aimed once more, but yet again scooped a bunch of dirt.
This
experiment is a tough one, she thought.
"All
right, once more…"
She
slowly dragged the controls to her left.
"A
little more… got it!"
She
pressed the Activate button. The capture cannon burst into life. In a
matter of seconds, it had scooped up something.
"Bio-reading
complete. Object identified as: soil."
Lilo
banged the dashboard with her head.
"Why,
why, why…."
Her
musings were interrupted, however, by a wail and a giant detonation.
She peeked over her shoulder. A large mushroom-shaped cloud was
hanging over a large crater about 15 feet in diameter. And emerging
from the cloud, sprinting as if his life depended on it, was Gantu.
"You
haven't won yet!" he yelled at the buggy.
"Give
it up, big dummy!" Lilo shouted back.
"Do
not call me that! Never call me that! This isn't over!" Gantu
shouted, even though his joints were getting seized up from all the
running. He halted and slumped against a tree. All those chase scenes
were really taking their toll…
While
he waited for his energy to recharge, he studied the surrounding
landscape. The foliage looked strangely familiar…
Abruptly,
he heard the slow "putt-putt" hum of a primitive land-based
vehicle made in the Earth-year 1915. An automobile, going by the name
of "Model-T".
He
looked around, but could see nothing that would make such a sound.
Curious, he followed the noise.
Three minutes and about 800 crushed trees later, he came to a large, very long piece of tarmac commonly known to humans as a "road". Rolling along it at about 20mph was an incredibly simplistic earth-bound transportation device, powered by the combustion of petroleum and other fossil fuels via four crude cylinder shafts.
Gantu stood for about five minutes, inquisitively watching this marvel of ancient technology, before he realised how significant it's presence was.
If there is a road hardly 200 meters from that experiment's course, then I can get to the fore of the trog and the little earth-girl and catch the experiment first!
Gantu, marvelling at his good fortune, started jogging down the road, humming "93 Bottles of Pop on the Wall".
"So that
is the so-called 'experiment catcher' Gantu?"
628,
hidden from view, examined the large fish with legs as he plodded down the
street.
"I see
he has a communicator… he won't be needing that anymore…"
"Are-you-sure-this-is-the-way-he-went?"
"Ih."
Lilo jiggled up
and down as Stitch steered the buggy down five flights of steps.
"Can't we go down
the ramp? Before lunch comes back up on me."
"Naga, no ramp."
By now the
experiment was far out of sight, somewhere down the Kumuwela-Kokee Trail.
The buggy launched itself off the last step and
landed with a thump on "Kumuwela Road" as Stitch preformed an intensely tight turn to avoid the wall of trees in front of them.
It was a few
minutes before the computer beeped, however not about the experiment.
"Warning: humanoid lifeform within 200m," it chirped.
Stitch slammed on
the breaks. As they came to a halt, Lilo saw whom it the computer was referring
to.
"It's the big
dummy!"
Sure enough, Gantu,
unconscious, lay sprawled out in the midway of the lane of asphalt and gravel. Slightly
buried in a pile of soil were his belt, experiment container and an electrical
device, which looked similar to a mobile phone.
"What happened to
him?"
Lilo hopped out
and examined the scene.
"His blaster's
missing!"
Stitch nodded and seized
the device. Wiping some of the sludge off it, he played around with the object,
before turning it off.
"Ih,
scarra tica juaba!"
"What?"
"Communicator
memory wiped."
"Which
means…"
She
thought about it for a minute.
"Umm…
that… er… that someone used it and didn't want anyone to know
about it! But who would want to do that…"
Suddenly
there was a murmur. Gantu had awoken.
"What
happened… hey, what are you doing with my communicator? Give it
back!"
Stitch
threw it to the ground and jumped back into the buggy as the large
whale-like creature got to his feet. Lilo, following his cue, jumped
in the driver's seat and started the ignition.
"Computer,
autopilot, Waimea Canyon, and step on it!"
The
buggy sped off.
"Why
is it not being here?"
Jumba
upturned the living room couch, unsettling a large pile of dust.
"Achoo!"
"Looking
for something?"
Pleakly
stood at the door, watching Jumba's fruitless attempts.
"Yes!
Someone has… achoo… stolen my all-in-one… achoo… key!"
"You
mean the one for the buggy?"
"No!
Buggy is having own key… achoo! I am leaving on… achoo… large
wooden plank upon which… achoo… humans make with the
chewing…achoo… and swallowing of nutrients…"
"You
mean the dining table?"
"Is
what I… achoo… say!"
He
sniffed noisily.
"Now
where is cardboard box which is being filled with many very thin
pieces of heavily-compressed tree fibre…"
"You
mean the tissue-box?"
"Yes!
Is what I…"
"I
think it's in the buggy which…" Pleakly squinted through the
window-blinds… "is not here. You can have my spare… which is…
somewhere…"
"Oh
great… achoo!"
Experiment
628 stopped.
He
pulled out something and examined it carefully. It looked like a blob
of melted metal.
"So
this is Jumba's all-in-one key? Very clever, he disguised it as a
worthless bit of rubbish. This will be very, very useful…"